Impact of boron fertilization on dry matter production and mineral constitution of irrigated cotton

The inorganic fertilizers produce significant effects on quantity as well as quality on the produce of most of the crop plants: the productivity of cotton crop varies greatly due to addition of macro-and micro-nutrients. among micro-nutrients,boron fertilizer holds significant importance in not only sustaining but also enhancing the yield of cotton. at the advent of excessive use of high analysis fertilizers,a wide spread deficiency of boron in soils of pakistan is of common scene. however,research studies are limited on the quantity and the impact of boron fertilizer on production of biological yield and its chemical composition of cotton plant under irrigated conditions. the present study was therefore conducted to determine the influence of boron fertilizer on dry matter production and its interactive effects on other nutrients in plant system. the experiment was conducted on calcareous soils under irrigated conditions for two seasons 2004-2005 at bahauddin zakariya university,multan. the treatments consisted of six levels of boron fertilizer i.e.,0.0,1.0,1.5,2.0,2.5 and 3.0 kg b ha-1 and were arranged in randomized complete block design with 4 replication. cotton crop cv. cim-473 was planted during the month of may and harvested in november each year. the standard production practices were followed. the results showed that application of boron fertilizer produced significant effect on enhancing biological yield of cotton. maximum dry matter yield was achieved by addition of 3.0 kg b ha-1. crop planted during season 2005 produced higher quantity of biological yield compared to year 2004. the addition of various levels of boron caused substantial increase in the uptake of nitrogen,phosphorus,potassium,copper,iron,zinc and boron nutrients,while lowering down of calcium magnesium and manganese in different parts of the cotton plant. the enhanced assimilation of macro-nutrients resulted in greater production of biological yield and better growth and development of cotton plant.